Preview:
After the disappointing loss at SMU we now travel to Clemson, which is hot off a 69-58 thrashing of then No. 20 Cal. Massey has Clemson at 58--40 positions better than SMU, and they certainly look on paper to be a strong team. They are, however, only 9-5, so clearly they can be beaten. Some of those losses, though, such as a close one to North Carolina State or the loss to South Carolina, are not "bad" losses. Their win over Cal was by far their "best" win, so I guess we should say that Clemson is still being tested as to how good they may be.
Loyal McQueen leads Clemson in minutes, points (14), and assists. She is a 5'8" grad student guard with excellent ball handling skills. This is her third program after Georgia Tech and Alabama. Fewer than (less than?) 10% of her shots are from three point range, but she is 50% on the few she takes.
The only other double digit scorer is Mia Moore. Moore is a 5'6" junior guard. She is also on her third program--instead of two years a program like McQueen, Moore has spent one year at Mississippi State and one year at UAB before coming to Clemson for her junior year. A program a year. She averages 12 ppg and makes 44% of her treys, although 3/4 of the time she is shooting twos. She also has 17 steals on the year so watch out for that.
Tessa Miller is their 6'2" senior forward, giving them an inside presence. We have played against her before when she was with Belmont. She just transferred in to Clemson this year. She is averaging not quite 10 ppg and shooting it at 55%, mostly from inside.
The other two starters have fluctuated a bit, whether because of injury or something else I do not know. Against Cal the fourth and fifth starters got a minority of minutes--the player who played the most was Hannah Kohn off the bench. Kohn is a 5'9" sophomore guard who appears to be their best three point shooter--having made 38 so far this year. She just transferred in from Chattanooga.
Raven Thompson also got 10 points against Cal. She is a 5'10" forward who just transferred in from Chattanooga.
The coach is Shawn Poppie, who just arrived from previously coaching Chattanooga, and who has assembled a successful team of nearly all transfers, including bringing a couple of players with him from his prior program.
Clemson, in other words, is the epitome of WBB in the era of ubiquitous transfers, in which players and coaches circulate freely on a year to year basis. All the more remarkable that Poppie has brought all the disparate pieces of the puzzle together so quickly.
I was questioned (politely) regarding my previous comment in another thread that winning this game is "imperative." In some ways, this is just another game, and just another win or a loss. But I have become concerned about the losses beginning to shake the confidence of our players. The next two games at home are against excellent teams and we should not be favored to win either of them. A loss at Clemson could possibly feed into a long losing streak. We need to break that trend. While it is not imperative that we have a winning season, it is imperative that our players improve, that no one transfers out, and that our excellent recruits in the pipeline follow through and show up. To assure that the future is bright we need to show improvement and some success.
After the disappointing loss at SMU we now travel to Clemson, which is hot off a 69-58 thrashing of then No. 20 Cal. Massey has Clemson at 58--40 positions better than SMU, and they certainly look on paper to be a strong team. They are, however, only 9-5, so clearly they can be beaten. Some of those losses, though, such as a close one to North Carolina State or the loss to South Carolina, are not "bad" losses. Their win over Cal was by far their "best" win, so I guess we should say that Clemson is still being tested as to how good they may be.
Loyal McQueen leads Clemson in minutes, points (14), and assists. She is a 5'8" grad student guard with excellent ball handling skills. This is her third program after Georgia Tech and Alabama. Fewer than (less than?) 10% of her shots are from three point range, but she is 50% on the few she takes.
The only other double digit scorer is Mia Moore. Moore is a 5'6" junior guard. She is also on her third program--instead of two years a program like McQueen, Moore has spent one year at Mississippi State and one year at UAB before coming to Clemson for her junior year. A program a year. She averages 12 ppg and makes 44% of her treys, although 3/4 of the time she is shooting twos. She also has 17 steals on the year so watch out for that.
Tessa Miller is their 6'2" senior forward, giving them an inside presence. We have played against her before when she was with Belmont. She just transferred in to Clemson this year. She is averaging not quite 10 ppg and shooting it at 55%, mostly from inside.
The other two starters have fluctuated a bit, whether because of injury or something else I do not know. Against Cal the fourth and fifth starters got a minority of minutes--the player who played the most was Hannah Kohn off the bench. Kohn is a 5'9" sophomore guard who appears to be their best three point shooter--having made 38 so far this year. She just transferred in from Chattanooga.
Raven Thompson also got 10 points against Cal. She is a 5'10" forward who just transferred in from Chattanooga.
The coach is Shawn Poppie, who just arrived from previously coaching Chattanooga, and who has assembled a successful team of nearly all transfers, including bringing a couple of players with him from his prior program.
Clemson, in other words, is the epitome of WBB in the era of ubiquitous transfers, in which players and coaches circulate freely on a year to year basis. All the more remarkable that Poppie has brought all the disparate pieces of the puzzle together so quickly.
I was questioned (politely) regarding my previous comment in another thread that winning this game is "imperative." In some ways, this is just another game, and just another win or a loss. But I have become concerned about the losses beginning to shake the confidence of our players. The next two games at home are against excellent teams and we should not be favored to win either of them. A loss at Clemson could possibly feed into a long losing streak. We need to break that trend. While it is not imperative that we have a winning season, it is imperative that our players improve, that no one transfers out, and that our excellent recruits in the pipeline follow through and show up. To assure that the future is bright we need to show improvement and some success.